Emily is praised as a next-level motivator and inspiring leader who lives by her motto, “Be so good they won’t forget you!” Her TEDx talk, “Six Tips for Building Your Confidence,” amassed an impressive 3 million views within a year and ranked #12 among the 16,000 TEDx talks uploaded to the YouTube channel in 2022. Renowned Fortune 500 companies, sports organizations, and national conferences frequently call upon her to speak and consult on creating more confident and goal-driven employees. Emily shares strategies that empower individuals with confidence, reducing fear and anxiety while fostering motivation, resilience, improved relationships, and authenticity in the workplace. 

Emily’s debut book, Let’s Go! A Guide to Increasing Your Confidence is a #1 best-seller on Amazon. As a pioneer in the sports industry, she made history as the first female General Manager of a Triple-A baseball team in nearly two decades. Additionally, she served on the DE&I committee alongside Major and Minor League Baseball, actively participating in inclusion efforts. Her highly-ranked podcast, “Leadership is Female,” features interviews with female executives, aiming to guide the future generation of female leadership. This podcast ranks among the top 2.5% globally and is listed in the top 200 in the business podcast category worldwide.

Dr. Cynthia Bentzen-Mercer is a USA Today national best-selling author, international
speaker, and board-certified executive coach with over three decades of global executive leadership experience across multiple industries and is the co-founder of The Zeal of the Heel. Dr. Cynthia’s expertise centers on her ability to actualize human potential, detailed in her book Now, Near, Next: A Practical Guide for Mid-Career Women to Move from Professional Serendipity to Intentional Advancement.

Dr. Cynthia has delivered compelling content to the CDC, YWCA, St. Louis Forum, National Beer Wholesalers Association, Deaconess Health, Edward Jones, Ardent Health, The Wynn Las Vegas, Willis Towers Watson, Hightower Wealth Advisors, LEAP HR Healthcare, The Beryl Institute, to name a few. Combining humor, real-world examples, and actionable takeaways, Dr. Cynthia is a business expert focused on amplifying women in business, building high-performance cultures, and actualizing peak performance.

Her unique approach to maximizing human performance has been featured in Improving HR and Heather McGowan’s The Empathy Advantage, on Daring to Leap with Loree Philip, This is Women’s Work with Nicole Kalil, Success Stories of Professional Women with Mel Stanley, and on numerous news outlets. Dr. Cynthia has a Ph.D. in social psychology from Walden University, an MBA, and a Senior Professional Human Resources (SPHR) designation.